He said Australians receiving welfare payments and pensioners were suffering the most.

"What we've seen of course is that some of the poorer cohorts, their living-cost index has risen by 1 per cent in the December quarter to an annualised rate of 2.4 per cent — which is well above the consumer price index in particular," he said.

"And at the same time pensioners and beneficiaries, their living cost indices rose the most."

Charity organisation the Salvation Army said while demand for clothing and shelter had always been strong, more Australians were now showing up on their doorstep simply looking for their next meal.

Salvation Army's Mitchell Evans said at their Sydney's Street Level Mission he was seeing more people coming to them every day for help.

"We're seeing people coming to services like Salvation Army just to eat during the day," he said.

"They've had to pay for bills, they've had to pay for medication, which is all quite costly, and they're having to come to services like us just to eat."

'It's impossible to even move out of home'

One young couple, May and Ben, said they had been spending increasing amounts of their money on food, rent and transport.